piracy

As the saga between Megaupload and the United States government continues, lawsuits are destined to come down strong from creators and copyright holders associated with the filesharing sites found distribution selection. The amount of cash that the group ValCom, Inc. is seeking is just part of the massive half-billion in copyright losses and $175 million in proceeds total the U.S. government has already calculated. ValCom's $42 million in suspected criminal proceeds have been seized in Megaupload.com and related entities raids thus far.

When we first heard that The Pirate Bay were planning to host the torrent magnet site in the sky via wireless drones, we were more than a little skeptical. As it turns out, the technology is certainly possible. TorrentFreak reports on Project “Electronic Countermeasures”, which has built five fully functioning drones capable of node sharing similar to what The Pirate Bay had in mind.

High-profile torrent site The Pirate Bay has threatened to take its content to the skies, with the perhaps tongue-in-cheek suggestion of GPS-controlled wireless drones that could automatically host nodes. The site's odd suggestion is using low-power, compact computers like Raspberry Pi, guided by GPS and connected using cheap wireless systems, floated "some kilometers" so that takedowns will need to involve physical destruction by planes.

This week it appears that the NSA has brought forth warnings of the hacker group Anonymous' ability to take down the power grid at a most opportune time, according to none other than Anonymous. While earlier this week it was warned by the NSA that Anonymous might be targeting the US power grid, the hacker group has noted that they'd do no such thing, as "there are ppl on life support/other vital services that rely on it." In addition, the group has brought attention today to a new bill that's looking to get passed in the first part of the year: the Cybersecurity Act of 2012.

This week the act known as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been pushed before the European Union's highest court where it will face scrutiny by law. This move has been described by EU trade head Karel De Gucht as a question by the court that will clarify whether the treaty was able to comply with "the EU's fundamental rights and freedoms." What we know so far of the ACTA, for those of you following along, is that its a multi-nation agreement currently being signed (or protested against) after its initial negotiation excluded civil society groups, developing countries, and the general public on the whole.

This is not a good time to own a file sharing site with any ties to piracy. German police recently shut down another European file hosting site called Skyload.net. In the raid, the alleged owner of the website was arrested along with a person who is said to have provided hosting services to the site. Apparently, the arrests are tied to an ongoing effort to capture everybody associated with Kino.to and shut down any site that is related to the movie streaming portal.

MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom has been finally granted bail by New Zealand courts, after a court decided the outspoken internet activist lacked sufficient funds to flee the country and avoid extradition to face US charges. Still, while District Court Judge Nevin Dawson deemed Dotcom safe enough to be released from jail, he also imposed some stringent limitations, 3 News reports, including no access to the internet, an electronic ankle bracelet and a block on helicopters onto the property where he is staying.

This week the British High Court has ruled that The Pirate Bay website and its users have been and continue to engage in "large-scale copyright infringement", this very possibly leading to a requirement that UK internet providers ban the site outright soon. Should your website "actively promote copyright infringement" you may be facing the same fate in the near future as so-called piracy continues to be an issue throughout the western world amid crackdowns on sites such as Megaupload for uploading and sharing media illegally.

Filesharing hub The Pirate Bay could face an all-out ban in the UK, with a High Court judge ruling that the site is responsible for large scale copyright theft. "In my judgement, [The Pirate Bay] do authorise its users' infringing acts of copying and communication to the public" Justice Arnold summarized today, The Guardian reports. "They go far beyond merely enabling or assisting ... I conclude that both users and the operators of [The Pirate Bay] infringe the copyrights of the claimants … in the UK."

This week the co-founder of Megaupload, Mathias Ortmann has been freed on bail after his arrest along with the rest of the Megaupload inner circle nearly a month ago. Ortmann's trial date was supposed to have taken place on the 26th of January but his own estimates on his finances did not match up with cash earned from basic Megaupload funds between 2005 and 2011 - while he noted he's made $17.5 million from the service over the past 6 years, he'd had $3.5 million more than that completely unaccounted for. This morning it appears that they've been able to explain the discrepancy because Ortmann has been released on bail.